Imperial Japan
Imperial Japan, or the Empire of Japan, was the period of Japan when the country was ruled as an imperial nation state from the Meiji restoration in 1870 until 1945 when the regime finally dissolved and the modern constitution was enacted. The most infamous period of Imperial Japan was during the Showa era from 1926 to 1945, when the Imperial Japanese military lead by Hideki Tojo seized power and ruled the country and the empire with an iron fist, with Tojo effectively ruling Japan from 1935 to 1945. Japan became a very strong country, and the Imperial Japanese regime held a very strict, totalitarian control over all aspects of life for their subjects, as well as having an extremely aggressive doctrine in regards to their foreign policies and colonial practices. Under the Showa era, Japan created a massive empire in Asia and the Pacific. Just like their ally, Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan was a virulently racist country, believing that Japanese people were racially superior to others. This extreme racism served as one of the most important features of Imperial Japanese society and policies, with the Imperial Japanese wishing to seize land for Japanese peoples, almost identical to the Nazi concept of Lebensraum. As a result, the Imperial Japanese were extremely brutal and genocidal, committing vicious mass murder of over twenty million Chinese, whom the Japanese wished to eliminate from their territories, as well as killing and brutalizing many others. During World War II, Imperial Japan was a very close ally of Nazi Germany, and just like the Nazi regime in 1945, the Imperial Japanese regime came to an end in 1945 as well when Japan was defeated by the end of the war. History Early History The origins of Imperial Japan began in 1868 with the Meiji Restoration, in which Japan underwent a massive industrialization and modernization with the ascension of Emperor Mutsuhito, or Meiji, a process that transformed Japan into a great power. Despite rapid modernization and welcoming Western influences, Japan still retained their traditional culture and traditions as well. With the Meiji Restoration, the country was known as Meiji Japan, and the country soon developed a very strong military, especially in the navy, leading to the creating of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Throughout the last years of Meiji's rule, Japan entered conflicts with China and Russia, leading to Japan obtaining the Sakhalin and Kuril islands. Japan also entered into a military trade agreement with Germany, in which Japanese forces were greatly supplied with German Stahlhelm helmets and Mauser C96 carbine rifles. Meiji died in 1912, and was replaced by Emperor Yoshihito, or Taisho. When World War I erupted the same year, Japan joined the side of the Allies, keeping their previous treaty with Britain and France, while China sided with the Central powers. In the ensuing conflict, Meiji Japanese forces engaged in fierce fighting in China proper, firmly crushing Chinese forces in China, as well as seizing the German Tsingtao bay concession. Japanese troops also captured the German held islands of Nauru, Samoa, Guam and Palau in fierce fighting. Captured German soldiers were treated with great respect and care by Japanese troops, leading to some German prisoners to settle in Japan. After the war ended, Japan gained and colonized the territories of Korea, Taiwan and Hainan. While Japanese conduct in China during the Great War was mostly fair and correct, troops under command of General Hideki Tojo committed several massacres of tens of thousands of Chinese civilians in Manchiuria. Taisho attempted to launch an investigation into Tojo's atrocities, but in the end, due to militarist interference, Tojo received little to no punishment for it. With the ascension of Taisho, liberal and democratic ideas started to flourish in Japan throughout his reign, and there was a new embracing of Western ideas. However, political turmoil started to erupt, and when Taisho died in 1926, he was replaced by a new Emperor Hirohito, known as Showa, leading Meiji Japan into becoming Imperial Japan in 1926. At this time, the Taisei Yokusankai, a radical militarist organization headed by General Hideki Tojo, was formed shortly before Taisho's death, and once Showa took power, Tojo and the Taisei Yokusankai would have much influence over him. Showa Era Along with the Taisei Yokusankai, in the 1920s, a new faction was created, known as the Imperial Japanese Army, which grew out from the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Imperial Army was controlled by the very radical Imperial Japanese militarists, and they quickly gained control of the entire Imperial Japanese military, with Tojo becoming their leader. Immediately with the ascension of Showa, the Imperial Japanese military gained near total control of Japan, with Showa giving his full support. With the Imperial Japanese in control of Japan, they began a rapid process of turning Japan into an incredibly strict and harsh totalitarian country with a very aggressive military doctrine. The Imperial Japanese fiercely persecuted any and all foreign influences and exerted extreme control over all their subjects and making total decisions for all aspects of life, exacting very harsh punishments for all those who disobeyed. The Imperial Japanese greatly indoctrinated Japan with heated nationalism and greatly championed the superiority of Japanese people and culture. As a result, Imperial Japan immediately became an extremely racist country which firmly believed in Japanese superiority and believed all others to be incredibly inferior. Immediately after Showa's ascension, General Tojo directed Imperial Japanese troops to slaughter tens of thousands of Koreans in brutal genocidal massacres in the Kanto and Gando regions of East Asia in the mid 1920s. The Imperial Japanese especially hated ethnic Chinese deeply, and would enact very brutal discrimination and persecution of them, while also showing a very special hatred for Koreans as well. In 1935, Tojo became the country's prime minister, and he ruled effectively as a dictator. Tojo greatly expanded on Imperial Japan's racist policies and aggressive military doctrines. Showa was still official head of Japan and he was involved in every major decision, but even so, his power was largely in name only, while most of the real power was held by Tojo and the Imperial Japanese military. As the War loomed closer, Imperial Japan built and incredibly strong alliance with Nazi Germany. The Japanese also built heavily in their military capabilities and industrialized greatly to produce their war machines, just like Germany, leaving both countries highly prepared for their goals of conquest. World War II World War II finally began with the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, first by seizing Manchuria in the first two months, then Imperial Japanese forces viciously and brutally invaded mainland China, fiercely crushing Chinese forces in a series of multiple vicious battles. However, despite the immense strength of the Japanese forces and the seizing of massive chunks of Chinese territory, the Chinese kept fighting hard and resisting the Japanese forces, and though the Japanese seize huge amounts of land, the Chinese forces even manage to stop the Japanese offensives several times, despite the Japanese continuing to overwhelm them in battle. Despite the fierce Chinese resistance, Japan still conquers most of Eastern China, and while Japanese troops keep battling Chinese forces, the Imperial Japanese forces also begin committing an extremely brutal genocide of the Chinese people, killing tens of millions of them, most notably with Japanese forces killing hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians in their capture of Nanking. The Japanese then invade and seize numerous Pacific islands to use as military bases, seizing the Mariana Islands, the Gilbert Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Caroline Islands and the Solomon Islands. In late 1937, Japanese forces invaded Siberia, eliminating Soviet defenses and occupying much of the Southern Far Eastern region of Russia. The Japanese employ a very brutal and murderous occupation of the captured Soviet territories, with Japanese forces mass slaughtering Russian peoples, as well as forcing many to death in harsh labor, with the intention of exterminating the Russian population and replacing them with Japanese. However, in early 1939, the Soviets viciously counter assault and firmly defeated the Japanese forces, with Russian troops vengefully punishing captured Japanese troops by subjecting them to executions and gulags in response to Japanese extermination policies towards Russians. Meanwhile, after their German allies declare war on Britain, Japanese launch a surprise invasion of India in 1938, receiving strong military help from German forces. While the German and Japanese forces keep working together and fighting very hard to capture India, capturing much territory, the United States launches an embargo against Japan in order to get them to halt their imperialism. In response, in late 1939, Japan launches a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, causing an infuriated America to declare war on Japan. Japan then attempts to invade Hawaii, but Japanese forces are fiercely crushed by determined and vengeful US forces. In a lightning campaign, Japanese forces invade and seize all of South East Asia, conquering the Philippines, Indochina and Indonesia, as well as invading and taking parts of Australia. While this happens, Japanese forces keep expanding greatly into China, with Japanese troops still mass slaughtering millions of Chinese civilians, as well as expanding into India with help from the Germans. However, the tide of the war begins turning against Japan. After suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of American forces at Midway, Johnston and Palmyra atolls, American forces begin launching their counteroffensive against Japan across the Pacific. The next several years sees American forces fighting in multiple fierce battles against Japanese defenses and garrisons to seize the Mariana Islands, the Gilbert Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Caroline Islands and the Solomon Islands. While this happens, the Australians push the Japanese out of Australia, and by 1944, all Japanese and German forces are pushed out of India by the British after much vicious fighting. The Americans and British then begin seizing much of Indonesia, and by late 1944, American and Chinese forces land in the Philippines to liberate the country. A midst the fighting, Japanese troops murder hundreds of thousands of Filipino civilians in the city of Manila, but after much fierce fighting all over the country, US forces liberate the Philippines and drive out the Japanese army. American forces then land in China and begin fiercely battling the Japanese to help the Chinese liberate Chinese land. While the Americans and Chinese forces work hard together to drive the Japanese forces from China, eventually driving out Japanese forces from most of Eastern China by mid 1945, American forces take the islands of Iwo Jima and Chichijima, then move towards Japan itself. Meanwhile, hoping to rescue their German allies from fall to the Soviet Union, Tojo sends forces to once again attack Siberia, committing brutal atrocities towards the Soviet peoples in the process, but this results in failure as the Russians drive the Japanese. The infuriated Soviets responded by invading and seizing Japanese held Manchuria and viciously crushing Japanese forces there. In a very risky operation, the United States begins their assault on Japan. First, in an effort to bring an end to the war, and destroy a very critical military target, the United States drops the newly developed uranium bomb on Kokura. When the Japanese refuse to surrender, the Americans went forth with the invasion of Japan. First, the Americans committed raids on Kyushu to distract the majority of Japanese defenses, then American forces landed on the main Japanese island of Honshu, fighting and ferociously crushing Japanese defenses in their path. After seizing the city of Hiroshima in a fierce battle, as well as fighting hard and seizing Kawasaki and Himeji, American forces firmly crushed all Japanese resistance in all the invaded areas of Honshu, then pushed on to Tokyo. Many Japanese civilians near combat areas were placed in internment camps by US authorities to keep them away from combat, and conditions and treatment of the civilians were still very fair and correct, with much food and medicine being greatly afforded to them. In a fierce battle near Tokyo, the Americans crushed Japanese defenses and surrounded the city, just breaking into the city's outskirts, and thus Showa finally intervened and called for the surrender of Japan. Wishing to continue the war, Tojo sent men to overthrow the Emperor, but the uprising failed and Tojo was forced to resign, then Showa officially announced Japan's surrender, and the war finally ended in late 1945. The end of the war finally brought an end to Imperial Japan and the Imperial Japanese military regime. After the war, once Japan was occupied by American forces, Tojo committed suicide as US police closed in on his summer home. Despite efforts to exonerate him, Emperor Showa was forced to abdicate and he was then tried as a war criminal. Guilty for what had his country had done, Showa apologized for his country's crimes before he was then sentenced to death. Showa was replaced by Emperor Akihito, or Heisei, who succeeded the Chrysanthemum throne. Post-Imperial Japan After Japan surrendered, all remaining Japanese forces were removed from Japan's former imperial territories and Japan itself was occupied by the Americans. In charge of this, was General Douglas MacArthur, who lead the process of rebuilding Japan. MacArthur was very successful, introducing extensive liberal and democratic programs that greatly reshaped Japan, and he also introduced economic foundations that would allow Japan to rebuild its economy into one of the world's strongest and most successful economies. As such, Japan developed into a much more peaceful and care free country with much more rights for people, with women's rights being granted. Along with rehabilitation, the American occupiers also sought to rightly punish Japan for their aggression and war crimes, engaging in a process of De-Imperialization, or even called De-Tojofication. The Japanese public was very heavily reeducated about the dangers of Japanese Imperialism, and the Japanese were taught to starkly remember the extreme brutalities and evils of the Imperial Japanese committed in Japan's name. The Allies tried all of Japan's war criminals, trying Imperial Japanese soldiers, officers and officials who committed the worst offenses and handing our death sentences or life imprisonment for most of them. One leading figure in the occupation, known as General Willard J. Loving, even took this steps further. A fiercely patriotic American, Loving deeply hated the Japanese and wanted only to punish them. Loving sought to install a sense of collective guilt in the Japanese, same as had been done with the Germans. Under Loving's influence, US police took Japanese people on tours to sites in China where Japanese troops massacred Chinese civilians, or showed them news reels and photographs of the killings. Loving also fiercely hunted down any remaining war criminals in hiding so they could be tried and executed, and Loving also launched indoctrination programs to build Japanese guilt, such as posting signs over Japanese towns blaming Japan's atrocities on the Japanese people, and he also effectively silenced and punished anyone who protested. Among his harsher ideas, Loving even proposed stripping Japan of all its industry, so that way, the country would never be powerful enough to wage war again, and even considered the idea of destroying cultural sites to eliminate potential sources for nationalism in the country. To Loving, this was more than fair, because Japan had started the war in the first place and committed the worst offenses. When asked about whether he was too harsh on his punishment of Japan, Loving had this response: "The Imperial Japs were some of the most evil, brutal, genocidal mass murderers in history, and the country of Japan willingly supported them. The Japanese committed the most brutal and massive killings and atrocities of the war, and they were the ones who attacked us first while arrogantly acting like they were the ones who've been wronged, symbolic of Japanese cowardice... The Japs were not in any way innocent victims, they were the evil bad guys, and they well deserved every harsh punishment inflicted on them... The Japanese themselves need to remember this the most, so they can progress beyond that low point, because showing any kind of sympathy, support and defense for the Imperial Japanese is absolutely disgusting, infuriatingly inappropriate and just repulsively despicable. And frankly, anyone who disagrees with that is filthy trash, and can go straight to hell." Fortunately, largely due to the mediation of General Bonner Fellers, Loving's harshest propositions were largely ignored, and the rehabilitation process included a good mix of rebuilding, as well as punishment. As such, Japan is now a very successful country and a very close supportive ally to the United Sates, as well as with Germany. Japan is also a much more peaceful country that has renounced their right to wage war and Japan has issued countless apologies and compensation to the countries their war rampage had affected. Japanese Imperialist sentiment is now illegal in Japan, and expressing sympathy or support for Japanese Imperialism or denying Japanese WW2 atrocities, as well as brandishing Imperial Japanese symbols, like the Rising Sun flag, is now a criminal offense in the country. Policies and Society With the commencement of the Showa era, Imperial Japan was an extremely militaristic and nationalistic country that held a very brutal rightist totalitarian Fascist style rule over their people, and the Imperial Japanese regime held an extremely harsh, strict and brutal control over all aspects of life for all their subjects, being incredibly oppressive and restrictive. People were taught to be aggressive towards their enemies and fully obedient to their leaders. Like in their ally, Nazi Germany, everything was very strictly regulated by the Imperial militarist regime and censorship was also very strict and widespread. The Imperial Japanese military enacted very harsh labor and prison camps and massive widespread executions of political prisoners and fiercely repressed liberal and democratic thinkers. The Imperial Japanese effectively made decisions for everyone and everything and severely punished all those who disobeyed. Imperial Japan also heavily indoctrinated the Japanese peoples with staunch nationalism and taught them to greatly cherish Japanese culture and identity above all else with fervent patriotism. As such, they also taught them to worship the Emperor as both their leader, and as if he was a god. One of the most important key elements of Imperial Japanese society was extreme, virulent racism. The Imperial Japanese very heavily enforced the belief that ethnic Japanese people were infinitely superior to all others, especially other peoples in Asia. As such the Japanese embraced racism, leading Japan into becoming an extremely racist country. Their beliefs also championed an idea similar to Germany's Lebensraum, in which they believe Japan should grow in order for more Japanese people to gain much strength and thrive, so that Japanese people could rule over others. The Imperial Japanese especially hated Chinese people, believing them to be incredibly inferior. Anti-Chinese racism was very heavily reinforced by the Imperial Japanese military onto Japanese society, creating an environment incredibly hostile towards Chinese people. As such, the Imperial Japanese launched an extremely brutal invasion of China, then the Imperial Japanese committed incredibly brutal genocidal mass murders of over 20 million innocent Chinese civilians. The Imperial Japanese also enacted very harsh discriminatory laws against Chinese people, leading to Chinese people losing businesses, rights and property, as well as being bullied and assaulted in the streets. The Imperial Japanese also heavily discriminated against Koreans and Filipinos, as well as brutally oppressing and persecuting Indians, Indonesians and Indochinese. White Westerners were also greatly persecuted and discriminated against, as the Japanese held racist beliefs of them to be arrogant and soft. Russians were also seen as heavily inferior, and during their short occupation of parts of the Russian Far East, the Japanese enacted genocidal policies of extermination towards local Russians. However, German people were given an exemption and labelled 'Honorary Yamato', similar to the German concept of 'Honorary Aryan' leading to Germans gaining far more rights and much better treatment than others. The Japanese also greatly repressed women and relegated them to strictly traditional roles, even in the midst of war time, and women had very few, if any rights, in the country. Military Main Article: Imperial Japanese Army Villainy * One of their most infamous actions is the Imperial Japanese genocide of the Chinese peoples, in which the Imperial Japanese brutally murdered over 22 million innocent Chinese. Imperial Japanese troops brutally killed tens of millions of Chinese civilians in widespread extensive massacres, purges, destruction of villages and towns, executions and other mass killings. They also worked many Chinese to death in very harsh labor and death camps. The most famous of these is the Nanking Massacre, the Sook Ching purges and the Changjiao Massacres. * The Imperial Japanese also brutally killed 10 million Filipinos, Koreans, Indians, Indochinese and Indonesians, exacting mass killings and brutal massacres of them, working them to death in harsh labor camps and destroying villages. * The Imperial Japanese committed vicious surprise attacks on neutral countries without ultimatums or declarations of war, such as the attack on Pearl Harbor. They also launched an unprovoked invasion of the Soviet Union and committed genocide against Russian peoples. * The Imperial Japanese also committed widespread mistreatment and immense cruelty against Allied POWs, often working them to death, torturing them or executing many of them, leading to a very high POW death rate. * The Imperial Japanese very commonly enacted vicious and brutal raids, pillages and destruction of entire villages, often burning and tearing down numerous villages and massacring the many village inhabitants. * The Japanese also committed widespread plundering and stole from their territories, with Japanese troops also committing extremely massive wide scale rapes against both local women and comfort women on a very large scale. They also worked millions of civilians and POWs to death in labor camps. In Cimil's world Imperial Japan appears very commonly in franchises with a World War II setting, in which the Imperial Japanese are always shown as villains, or at least the antagonists of the story. Imperial Japan is very commonly shown in the Call of Duty, Battlefield, Medal of Honor and Johnny Storm franchises, and even at points in the Steve N' Gregory franchise. Trivia Category:Call of Duty Category:Battlefield Category:Medal of Honor Category:Johnny Storm Category:Sides Category:Cimil's History